By Mark Baber
November 14 – Equatorial Guinea has stepped in to save the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, following a meeting between Issa Hayatou, President of the African Football Confederation (CAF) and Equatorial Guinea’s President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
On the eve of November 11, the so called ‘Singles Day’ in Chinese internet language, two tired French gentlemen, dragging their luggage, took the shuttle bus from terminal 2 to terminal 3 in Beijing International Airport. Some passengers recognised that one of them was Michel Platini, and were astonished, others retorted that “How could the President of UEFA be getting on a shuttle bus in Beijing?”
By Andrew Warshaw
November 14 – FIFA’s ethics judge Hans Joachim Eckert says he is “surprised” by public criticism from Michael Garcia’s over the way he summarised Garcia’s report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
By Mark Baber
November 14 – There were major developments in the Nigerian football governance crisis on Thursday as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Appeals Committee completed its hearings into the validity of the September 30 Executive Committee elections whilst the Nigerian government passed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill 2014 in an apparent attempt to bring sanity to football administration in the country.
It was supposed to be all about closure for FIFA. Done and dusted. No more subterfuge. No more finger pointing. Time to move on. After all, there’s a presidential election next year.
November 14 – Chelsea FC have announced a profit of £18.4 million on a record turnover of £319.8 million for the year ended 30 June 2014. This is the econd and largest profit the largest profit the club has made since Roman Abramovich became owner of the club in 2003. Two years ago the profit was £1.4 million.
By Paul Nicholson
November 14 – Ray Whelan, the British director of FIFA’s World Cup marketing affiliate Match who was arrested at the World Cup in July, has in the last few days returned to the UK. Whelan was bailed in August from Brazil’s notorious Bangu prison but has only just received his passport.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 14 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers insist they were right to be exonerated from any corruption allegations as reaction continues to pour in, most of it negative, following the controversial summary of Michael Garcia’s report into the entire bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
November 14 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has extended the domestic ban on six Vietnamese players from Dong Nai FC to confederation level for their role in the country’s match-fixing scandal.
November 14 – More than four years after staging the 2010 World Cup, several of South Africa’s top construction firms have been accused of colluding over tenders in the run-up to the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 13 – If FIFA had hoped that today’s publication of the summary of Michael Garcia’s report into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process would bring some closure, the whole investigation was immediately plunged back into confusion and intrigue when Garcia himself incredibly claimed his evidence had been misrepresented and that he was not happy with the findings.
By Mark Baber
November 13 – The issue of a Roma football club based in Decin in the Czech Republic, whom five league opponents have refused to play, has highlighted the racism and discrimination faced by the Roma communities in Eastern Europe and illustrates the obstacles football administrators need to overcome to ensure equal access and opportunities for all.
November 13 – The Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), one of whose main goals is to use football as a tool for social change and improvement across the region, has agreed to host the Soccerex Asian Forum in Jordan for another two years.
November 13 – A Swiss top-flight team have initiated legal proceedings after one of its players suffered a serious injury following a horror tackle by an opponent last weekend.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 13 – African football chief Issa Hayatou says acceding to Morocco’s request to postpone the Africa Cup of Nations would have been “to sign our death warrant” as yet another country added to the crisis by saying it couldn’t afford to step in and stage the event.